Using Sport Psychology to Help my Performance in Volleyball.

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Sports Psychology is the study of the psychological and mental factors that influence and are influenced by participation and performance in sport, exercise, and physical activity (Dr. Arvid J. Bloom at ). This is especially important for elite athletes, as mental preparation is capable of giving them the edge over physically equal opponents. The hypothesis that has been tested and evaluated was that a combination of both Imagery and physical practices was more effective than either imagery or practice alone.  Throughout this essay the topics, goals setting, relaxation techniques, imagery, self talk, arousal, motivation levels and physical performance as a result of the imagery training undertaken, will be highlighted and evaluated as being key components of the imagery program.

Goal setting has to main uses in terms of sporting context. One is to serve as a reference standard for comparative purposes e.g. moods and performances as well as serving as a focal point for athletes to determine pre-competition, and competition strategies (Pyke, F). The goal setting concept was divided into three types of goals, outcome, and performance and process goals.  Outcome goals also comically labelled ego goals, (Wilson, G) and are goals that are not generally determined by the athletes’ personal preparation but instead by the amount of perpetration the athlete’s opposition has had (Wilson, G). Therefore this type of goal is inaccurate and should not be the main goal. However as part of the program 2 outcome goals had to be selected. For this program the two outcome goals selected were, to achieve a VHA in volleyball and to gain a sense of fluency when playing the game of volleyball.

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Performance goals are targets that are directed toward achieving individual skills or behaviours, and tend to be the most effective type of goal because they involve “learning at the risk of making mistakes, they improve problem-solving, and they encourage the athlete to work harder” (Dr. Stavrou, N). In this course the eight performance goals were based on achieving a percentage, and that were in direct accordance with Pyke, F statement of using the five point method, Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-framed.

Process goals or as Pyke, f refers to them as specific goals, this type of goal is set ...

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